FWFW 3 - 75 (Patreon)

Issa gently lifted the globe of sparkling, gem-filled liquid and nestled it among the thousands of curled, fine, hair-like copper, gold, and silver wires in Tiladia’s new head. A shimmer of Energy passed through the nest of wires and then faded. Morgan watched, rapt with attention, as Issa carefully placed the top of the silvery skull over the dome, gently running a finger along the seem, sealing it with a pulse of Energy.

“Wow. Issa, that looked incredibly complicated—where’d you get the materials for that, um, crystal brain?”

“I purchased all the raw precious metals I needed, but many of the more esoteric items, like the memory gems, came from Vormendion’s stockpile. I should have talked to you about this, but I knew you’d say it was all right.”

“Yeah, of course . . .”

“Well, I should mention that some of these objects would fund a household in Tarn’s Crossing for years . . .” Issa said more softly, sort of trailing off, glancing nervously at Morgan while she worked.

“Huh. Well, it’s only money, right? This is worth it.” Issa didn’t reply, but Morgan could see the smile on her face while she worked. Tiladia’s silvery body was nearly complete—as Issa finished the interior of each limb, each digit, she’d been slowly, steadily assembling the body. When she placed the head atop the neck, carefully closing the seem where the artificial vertebrae touched the base of the skull, Morgan could see a complete, shimmering, silvery woman lying on the bench.

“She looks like an early Noah Unit,” he said, forgetting for the moment that neither Tiladia nor Issa had any idea what that was.

“Noah Unit?” Issa asked, only half paying attention to him.

“They were, um, artificial people that we developed to help manage our spaceships. The early ones had metallic bodies like this.”

“I’m not artificial,” Tiladia said, hovering behind Issa and watching her progress.

“No, that was the wrong sort of comparison to make. I’m sorry,” he said.

“She won’t look metallic for long, Morgan. When I finish, and she bonds with the new body, it will take on an aspect from her mind. I’m so excited to see how it looks—this alloy made it possible!”

“Really? This is incredible, Issa.”

“It’s all made possible by many lucky circumstances, really. I can’t take credit for everything. My Class is part of it, but Vormendion worked for decades to acquire the skill and spell that I learned. Put that aside and look at the fortune of materials we had access to,” she glanced at Tiladia’s amorphous form and added, “and a very special spirit willing to go along with my design!”

“I’m eager to be part of this, Lady Issa. I couldn’t possibly thank you enough.” Tiladia curled gently around Issa and then floated back, giving her room to work.

“Everything is assembled,” Issa said, surprising Morgan as she straitened and gestured at the silvery body. “Two more steps are needed—Tiladia, you need to bond with the body, but it will remain inert until someone primes the Core with a surge of pure Energy. Morgan, I’m not sure I have enough, but if you hold hands with me and push some of your pure Energy toward me,” she paused and spoke very clearly, “not your void Energy, Morgan!” He nodded, and she continued, “then I will be able to draw on it as I activate the body.”

“I’m ready,” Tiladia said, her crystal voice speaking so quickly that the independent notes ran together, making it hard for Morgan to understand.

“You’ll feel strange, Tiladia, maybe even lose consciousness while we prime your Core. Don’t be worried; I promise it won’t last long.”

“God, I feel like we should have some sort of ceremony or something. This all feels so . . .” Morgan grasped for the right word and finally settled, “momentous. We don’t have time to mess around, though. Til, when you’re ready.” Morgan stood up and moved beside Issa, holding out his hand. Issa took it, resting her other hand on the silver body’s stomach, right above the carefully sculpted navel.

“Tiladia, just settle down over the body. You’ll feel the pathways meant for a spirit. Flow into it, and I’ll cast Vormendion’s spell, binding you to the vessel.” Morgan heard Issa inhale and knew she was holding her breath while they watched Tiladia gently settle down over the body. She rested above it, an amorphous, glittering, tinkling cloud, for just a moment, and then she seemed to flow into the chest, right between the two small breasts that Issa had crafted. She was gone in the space of two of Morgan’s breaths, and he thought he detected a brighter shimmer emanating from the body’s silvery skin.

Issa concentrated for a moment, Morgan felt Energy surge from her, and then the body pulsed with a brilliant silver-turquoise light. Morgan squinted against the glare, but it faded, and soon the body returned to its usual luster. “Ready? Morgan? Push a thread of Energy into my hand, please.”

Morgan had spaced out, watching the light show coming from Tiladia’s new body, and it wasn’t until Issa said his name that he registered her voice. “Right, here it comes.” He teased a thread of Energy from the maelstrom circling his inner void-Energy Core, pulling the pure Energy out and along his pathways and pushing it toward Issa. He felt her take hold, and his instinct was to resist, but he tamped down on his will, letting it flow, and soon a steady ribbon of Energy was pouring out of him and into Issa.

Issa began to radiate with the Energy, and when he looked at her hand touching Tiladia’s new belly, he saw the bright silver-turquoise Energy signature again, and as it grew in brightness, he became aware of an almost subsonic hum coming from Issa. He looked at her, saw her partially open mouth and thousand-yard stare, and began to worry. Had she taken on something that was too much for her? Should she have to use his Energy to jumpstart her creation? Was she hurting herself?

He needn’t have worried, though—almost as soon as his thoughts began to spiral, he felt the tug on his Core lessen, and then the stream of Energy flowing out to Issa tapered off. The pulsing Energy around her hand subsided, and Issa inhaled deeply through her nose and smiled, looking up at Morgan. “It’s done.”

Morgan looked at the inert but softly shimmering body and said, “She’s not moving or anything.”

“I can see that, Morgan.” Issa tsked and gently brushed Tiladia’s brow. Even with her shimmering, silvery skin, Morgan could see that Issa had put a lot of love and attention to detail into crafting Tiladia’s face. It was faintly heart-shaped with a pert nose, full lips on a small mouth, a gentle indentation above her upper lip, and a graceful jawline stretching up to her finely detailed, elegant ears.

“Will she have hair?” Morgan asked, noting the utter lack of it.

“That’s the plan. I think right now she’s settling in. As her soul meshes with the body, it will start to read her intent, and then she’ll take on her new aspect. I’m not sure how long it will take . . .” Issa trailed off, gently resting her hand on Tiladia’s belly again. “It’s working, though. I can feel the Core pulsing and feeding Energy into her pathways.

“Will she be able to shapeshift?” Morgan asked, imagining the body shifting to look different based on Tiladia’s “intent.”

“No, silly. Her intent is subconscious, and this is a one-time process. Look!” Issa pointed to a circle on Tiladia’s chest where the silvery, shimmering surface had grown cloudy, resolving into a patch of pale pigment. Morgan watched as the color spread, dulling the reflective, metallic surface and then gradually shifting to look like actual skin. “Morgan, hold your arm up here.” Issa took his fingers, too impatient for him to register what she meant, and pressed his hand on Tiladia’s stomach. Their skin tones were a perfect match.

“She’s copied my skin,” Morgan laughed. “God, it feels real. It doesn’t feel like metal at all!” Morgan quickly pulled his hand away, aware that he'd been resting it on Tiladia’s naked stomach. As his eyes drifted upward, he jerked his head away—Tiladia’s breasts had taken on a fleshy aspect as well. “Give her a blanket or something!” he said.

Issa laughed, pulling her magical cloak from her ring and draping it over Tiladia’s torso. As she did so, Morgan saw little hairs start to sprout from Tiladia’s scalp. He pointed, and as he watched, they lengthed into a lustrous mane of wavy, shimmering, silver-colored hair. “Oh, it’s beautiful, and I don’t think this is a remnant of the alloy—Tiladia told me her dragon scales were silver!” Issa said, clapping her hands together.

“Damn, it looks amazing,” Morgan said, noting that Tiladia’s eyebrows had also sprouted thick, silver hairs. A moment later, the reborn dragon spirit shuddered, opened her mouth to reveal sharp, straight, white teeth, and inhaled. Then her eyes shot open, and gleaming silver irises regarded Morgan and Issa.

“Am I alive?” She asked, her voice clear, wholly unique, and beautiful. It rang with clarity and had a lilting tone—very different from her old incarnation's false, chiming voice.

“You are!” Issa said, taking up one of Tiladia’s perfect, delicate hands. “How do you feel?”

“I feel . . . I feel . . . I feel!” Tiladia said, her voice rising in excitement with each repetition. “Lady Issa! I can see you more clearly now! I can feel you! Oh, Gods, you’re warm!” Tiladia sat up, Issa’s cloak sliding down, revealing her pale chest, but she didn’t care. She reached out and grabbed Morgan’s hand, pulling it close. “Morgan! I’ve wanted to hug you, to touch you. Oh, Elder Gods! Thank you! Thank you both!” Tears formed in her perfect, bright eyes and began to stream down her cheeks, and Issa was suddenly sobbing, pulling Tiladia into an embrace.

“I’m so happy for you, Til. I’m going to give you a minute to get dressed. I’m sure Issa has something for you.” Morgan turned away, but Tiladia laughed, pulling back from Issa.

“I’ll get dressed, but don’t worry, Morgan. I spent much of my old life without clothes—this doesn’t bother me.”

“Right,” Morgan said with a chuckle. “You’re not a dragon anymore, though.”

“Well, the System still thinks I am, at least partially! My race says “Dragonkind.” Her lilting voice was so clear and her humor so evident that Morgan couldn’t believe it was the same Tiladia whose emotions he’d struggled to read for so long. She smiled as she shrugged into the silky black shirt Issa handed her, and before he could turn away, she stood up to pull on a pair of matching leggings.

“God. . .” Morgan blurted, looking away quickly.

“So the System recognized you right away?” Issa asked, cutting him off.

“Yes! I’m only Base-zero, so no class or levels, but my Core is Improved-five! I can’t wait to start leveling again, Issa. You did a perfect job!”

“That’s fantastic! And your race?”

“Base-seven! Don’t you think that since the System ranked it, I can continue to improve it?”

“Yes, that makes sense!” Issa said, picking up her cloak and slipping it back into storage.

“This is all wonderful,” Morgan said, watching as Tiladia tried out her legs. She was slender and nearly the same size as Issa, and she had a natural grace to her movements that spoke volumes, either about Issa’s ability to integrate her into a new body or her existing knowledge of bipedal locomotion. “but, do you mind seeing if you can go outside? I need to get out there as soon as possible.”

“Of course! The townsfolk! They must be counting on us,” Tiladia said, hurrying past Morgan for the stairs. When she got to them, she started down, and Morgan and Issa followed. In a few steps, Morgan stepped into the entry hall with Issa, but Tiladia was nowhere to be seen.

“What the . . .” he started, but Issa laughed.

“She doesn’t have permission for the stairs, Morgan. Can you grant it?”

“Oh shit,” Morgan said, staring into space, reaching out to feel the tower. He concentrated on the spot where he felt Tiladia, her Core blazing brightly with pure golden Energy. With a tweak of his will, he granted her permission with the staircase and, while he was at it, permission to enter and exit the tower. Seconds later, Tiladia came stumbling down the stairs.

“That took a lot longer than I thought it would!” she said, her laugh ringing happily around the chamber.

“I forgot to . . .”

“I know, I know, Morgan. I forgot also! Let’s see about these wards!” Tiladia strode toward the door, still hanging open.

“Tiladia!” Issa called, “Be careful not to hug close to the tower. If you get outside a certain radius, the secondary effect will hit you, and you’ll be rendered unconscious.”

“Right! Never fear, Lady Issa,” Tiladia called, and then she was outside the tower.

“It worked,” Morgan breathed, realizing that part of him had never believed she’d be able to walk through the barrier.

“Of course it did. I told you how the wards were working, didn’t I?” Issa asked, raising an eyebrow. Morgan smiled at her as he started slapping his gleaming armor on, happy for its automated nature and the lack of straps. He was pulling down his visor when Issa said, “She should only need to break or remove one of the wards. I hope they’re not too deep or heavy or indestructible . . .” she stopped speaking as a red haze shimmered over the doorway and then burst into a hundred thousand little sparks, sizzling as they flew through the air.

Morgan didn’t wait, didn’t hug Issa, didn’t say another word. He stepped toward the door and cast Void Step, placing himself fifty yards outside the tower. He drew Bloodfang, cracked his wings wide, and shouted toward the militia members stirring on the grass nearby, “What the hell is going on out here?”